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| Your
Sales Rep Can’t Be Your Best Friend and Other Selection Mistakes |
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| One
particular complaint that I hear quite often,
both from people on project teams and sales
representatives, is that inappropriate selection
criteria are applied in deciding which product
or service to buy. Your Sales Rep Can’t be Your Best Friend Although skill is a determining factor in a sales rep’s success, I think we probably all realize that a good sales rep needs a particular personality. Personable people can make the potential customer feel good about making the purchase. Some of you who have read this newsletter for a while probably remember articles where I’ve stressed that you need good relationships with your software or services vendors. However, this means that your team and the sales representative’s company need a good relationship during the project, that everyone involved needs to be able to work together—not just the sales rep, but the provider as a whole. With that said, I’m not suggesting that you create a poor relationship with a potential vendor, just that an arms-length relationship should exist until the decision is made. Occasionally, I’ll hear the person who made the decision say something about the sales rep, such as, “They’re so nice,” or, “I really like him/her a lot!” Neither of these comments is a good reason to spend all that money. Company Size Making a decision primarily based on software/services company size doesn’t work, either. A large overall software vendor may have a relatively small LIMS division that does not contribute much to the bottom line. Even a vendor with a big LIMS division or the largest company devoted to LIMS doesn’t necessarily guarantee the best product assistance either, because those products might not work for your situation. On the opposite end, assuming that the smallest company will give you the most personal service doesn’t always work to your advantage, either. In the case of any company, if they have too many customers per resources, they won’t be able to give you particularly good personal service. So, if a small company is trying to grow, you should ask them about their plans and how that will affect the degree of customer service you can expect. The Best Demo Sometimes, even the best demo can’t disguise the fact that the product doesn’t quite meet your needs. The people selecting the product sometimes get caught up in the bells-and-whistles of a product demo. Selecting a product can’t just be about the technology being offered, either. Overselling This is a tough one to avoid. If the software or services vendor oversells, that is to say, makes promises that they can’t keep, it can be difficult to know that’s what they’ve just done. Let’s face it, if someone really, really wants your project because it’s so big or is strategic to them in some way, some vendors will bargain with you to get it and be up-front about what can be delivered and when. They may give a bit on their end because you’re so important to them. Others vendors will merely tell you what you want to hear. The only advice I can give is to listen carefully to all the proposals. Consider the outliers. If one vendor promises the world and another seems cautious, you need to sit down as a team and figure out why they’re saying such opposite things. One of the vendors might be realistic, the other too negative or positive, or something in between. Also consider that, yes, every customer is important, but there are going to be specific projects that are key for one reason or another that are difficult for you, the customer, to know about. It’s not necessarily by project size, either, so don’t assume that you’ll get the best deal because you’ve got the biggest project. Finally While it’s true that most people are trying to present themselves at their best during the selection process, these are a few pitfalls that lie in wait for them, despite their good intentions. Just remember that successful LIMS selection still primarily comes down to selecting the products with appropriate functionality. |
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of This Newsletter Assistance in the production of this newsletter was provided by Teich Technical and Marketing Communications, which can help you find your new clients through marketing communications, technical writing, editing, indexing, and Web content services, along with training and educational materials development. Thea Teich, owner and principal, is currently the immediate past president of the Society for Technical Communication. Contact: Thea@TeichTMC.com |
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